We interrupt this blog......

to bring you this important public service announcement:

I am generally a rather thick-skinned person.  Having gone through my elementary and secondary school years being teased about everything from my physical appearance to my intelligence, I finally learned a few years ago (or so I thought) to let others' opinions of me roll off like water from a duck's back.  Same with thinly veiled comments made not to me but in my hearing, that belittle and deride choices I've made, the background to which the speaker has no clue.

That's not to say that stuff like that doesn't hurt, it does.

Now, if I were a perfect person, I'd just decide not to be bothered by things that would hurt and insult someone who isn't perfect.  I could just chalk those comments and digs up to the fact that the person really didn't realize that what they just said was hurtful, or that I somehow ended up on the receiving end of that link to an article or video because the sender forwards a lot of stuff on to me, and temporarily forgot that maybe I'm passionate about that issue in the opposite direction.

Not to say I don't ever want anyone to disagree with me.  I'm just coming from a different place than a lot of people I know, and so I see some things differently.

Fact is, I'm divorced.  Quite necessarily and happily.  If you don't know the backstory, get to know me well enough to ask, and I'll be happy to tell you.  In the meantime, please don't have a loud conversation with a mutual friend about how you don't see how anyone could ever do anything so evil as get a divorce WHILE LOOKING AT ME SIDEWAYS.

Another fact:  I'm proud to have served the USA as an honorably discharged, decorated member of the US Army.  I spent a year at an "expendable" artillery base at the eastern edge of Europe as part of that service.  An "expendable" base is one that is a giveaway to the enemy (at that time the Soviet Union) in the event of shots-being-fired hostilities arising. So I guess you could say that while I was never in a war zone, I was in harm's way during that time, and I was there willingly.

Fact #3: I personally find it next to impossible to evangelize when I am surrounded by people who are just like me in terms of faith and belief. I find it much easier to pray for people if I've met them AND I KNOW WHO THEY ARE.

Final fact (for this post, anyway):  I'm doing the best I can, with what I've been given to work with.  Sometimes that's more than enough, but sometimes it isn't.  However, God is always right on time with just what He knows I need. You might not make the same decisions as I, given the same circumstances, but right now my circumstances are mine, not yours.  Please don't judge me. Or pity me.  Or for that matter, admire me.  Given a do-over I'd certainly make different choices, and I can tell you positively that the way things are is certainly not the way I intended for them to be.  It isn't easy, but it is what it is.

Thank you.  We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

"Back Home Again in Indiana", Part One

 Our first big road trip of the year!  At a little after 4 AM on Thursday, May 26, we pulled out of the driveway and headed to what is arguably the center of the universe on Memorial Day weekend - Indianapolis Motor Speedway - for the Centennial of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race.

We had our camping permit for Lot 2, right across Georgetown Road from the track, and I took these photos on the evening we arrived.  The first one is looking south from the entrance to Lot 2, toward 16th Street

 and Gate 1.  For the second one I just turned around and looked north towards the Coke Lot.

The pictures don't convey the sheer size of the place!  This is the first time we've been there when it hasn't been totally packed with race fans, so I really enjoyed the cozy, almost sleepy feel to our surroundings as we made ourselves at home for the next 4 days.

 After we got our campsite all set up and arranged, we took a walk down Georgetown Road to Lot 1A and "Camp & Brew", the premier tailgate of the "500", fundraising headquarters for Brian's Wish, and watering hole/gathering spot for members of TrackForum.com and their friends and family.

Glenn, John, Kevin, Roach and all the other TF'ers we met were even nicer than they are on the internet, and it was really great to put faces to a lot of the names I see nearly every day on the forum.

I got two picks in the blind fundraising pool - Ana Beatriz and Scott Dixon.  I didn't win, but it was really fun to cheer them on during the race, hoping one of them would place in the standings and I'd win some cash!

 These were without a doubt the best ribs I've ever had.  One of the secrets is Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce.  I'm sure the Weber grill has a lot to do with it too, but I may try re-creating them on my itty bitty Weber.




Look!  A sofa! (Actually there were TWO sofas)


This next photo is from the road going past our campsite, looking towards the track. It's a bit blurry because I was using the "night" setting on my camera and now realize that if I use that setting again I need to use my Gorillapod.  The lit-up structure in the center of the photo is the Pagoda.  The little red sports car in the foreground belonged to a really nice guy from Florida who had worked the St. Pete race a couple of times, but had never come to Indy before.  I think he gawked more than we did, and we did a LOT of gawking!

Here's looking down the road toward the exit of the lot from our campsite.

And here's "home away from home"! The screen house is the reason why I will never, EVER purchase any more outdoor equipment at Wal-Mart. It did not survive a gust of wind on Race Day, although the tent held up well despite an already-damaged pole.  Nothing leaked this time, either.

Stay tuned for pictures of our adventures on Carb Day!  There's just too much to put into one post, so I have to have a series of posts so I remember to put everything in.

Road Trip!!

We're off this Thursday to Indianapolis and the Auto Racing Capital of the World, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, for the Centennial Race Weekend!

I don't have a mobile hotspot for my laptop, and no smartphone, so the blog will be on vacation as well.  However, if you want to know what we're doing, I will be Tweeting, hopefully pretty regularly.

I promise to take lots of pictures; this will be our first Carb Day, and we're also excited about the chance to get driver autographs on Saturday - each of us has a plain white t-shirt and a Sharpie marker.  I plan to put the shirts in shadowbox frames and hang them in my kitchen along with assorted other Indy 500 memorabilia that we collect along the way.

I'll be meeting up with the recipient of the Centennial Socks, and have a bunch of other swag to give her along with the socks.  I hope she likes what I chose for her! (Can't tell, because she might be reading this, teehee).

So everybody play nice, go read my old posts, and I'll be back after the weekend!

Birdman is a Fun Guy

He's taking Biology this year, and the course starts with the study of single-celled organisms and moves on to stuff like mushrooms and other fungi.

 This is slime mold.

No, I do not know if it is actually slimy.

It looks gross.

 We're not sure what this one is, maybe someone out there can help us?

Some rather delicate-looking mushrooms.

I looked under our hemlock trees where we usually have puffballs, but there aren't any there right now.









He also did an exercise where he had to collect pond water, add different things to the jars, let them 'work' for a few days and then examine the water under a microscope.  We saw lots of little wiggly things - amoebae, paramecia, euglena and some others I can't remember!

Totally Uncompensated Product Endorsement

Bath Fitter is da BOMB.

 Here's my ugly 70s tub and shower in the downstairs bathroom.  A total mildew factory, impossible to keep clean, and the drain was always so s-----l-----o------w.

 Midway through, my bathroom looked like this.  I think this is an improvement, considering how I despised the old tub.

 And here's my new seamless large-footprint shower!  SQUEE!

In short, our Bath Fitter franchise is everything their ads say, and more.  The worker was quiet and neat, and really did clean up after himself.  He even left us the old copper and brass to take in for recycling. I'd definitely recommend them.

The faucet is really neat; you set the water temperature with one lever and then turn the water on with another, so you can get the temp adjusted perfectly and every time you turn on the water it goes back to just that temperature!  No more fiddling and guesswork!  And the drain actually DRAINS.  And it's not slippery.  And it doesn't get water all over the floor.

I love my new shower!

I Took the Weekend Off

and did my yard, and the laundry, and attempted to do some housework!  I only have one more batch of bread to bake for our trip - Raisin Oat Cinnamon Bread (only instead of raisins I am using craisins and dried blueberries), and a bunch more work to finish up.

Aren't my flowers pretty?  Everything in this strip beside my driveway was given to me by other gardeners who were thinning out their flower gardens.  It has taken a couple of years but is starting to look nice!

Dutch iris

Dutch iris and a Chinese honeysuckle on the left

Wild columbine; I have a blue one too!

Back to the grind tomorrow!  What are your plans for the week?

Should I Take It Off?

I've been divorced for almost ten years.

Shortly after I became a single parent, I had my mother's engagement diamonds, which she had had set into a brooch for me several years ago (more than several; it was back in the 80s when high-collared Gunne Sax blouses were in style and the brooch was a bar pin with the diamonds set in it), made into a tulip-set solitaire ring and a pair of earrings.

I've worn the ring constantly since I picked it up from the jeweler.

I tell people who ask, that it's my "leave me alone" ring.

I think it may be time to take it off.

I just think maybe someone is out there and if I run into him, he won't bother because of the rock on the third finger of my left hand (it's not huge, but it isn't tiny either, and it's really very pretty).

If nothing else, it will be humbling to run around without a ring on that finger to hide both the tan line and the callus that come from wearing a ring on the same finger for......well, a lot of years.

What do YOU think?  I'm open to suggestions.